Activities of Miguel PORTAS related to 2011/2042(BUD)
Plenary speeches (1)
Preparation of 2012 budget (debate)
Amendments (13)
Amendment 2 #
Motion for a resolution
Title before paragraph 1
Title before paragraph 1
A 2012 budget under the auspices of enhanced European economic governance, the European Semester mechanism and the Europe 2020an objectives to boost employment, peace- building, sustainable development and ecological conversion
Amendment 5 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Takes the view that the Europe 2020 strategy strategy should help European Union should help its countries recover from the crisis and come out stronger, through smart, sustainable and inclusive growth based on the five EU headline targets, namely promoting employment, improving the conditions for innovation, research and development, meeting our climate change and energy objectives, improvmoting education to high standard levels and promoting social inclusionpolicies, in particular through thesocial inclusion and reduction of poverty; recalls that the Member States themselves have fully endorsed these five targets;
Amendment 14 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Is of the opinion that the EU budget brings added value to national public expenditure by initiating, supporting and complementing investments in those policies which are at the core of Europe 2020; believes, moreover, that the EU budget has an instrumental role to play in helping the EU to exit the current economic and financial crisis through its capacity as a catalyst to boost investment, growth and jobs in Europe; takes the view that the EU budget could at least mitigate the effects of current restrictive national budgetary policies; stresses also that, given its redistributive nature, any attempt to limit the level of the EU budget will be detrimental to European solidarity and to the pace of economic development in most Member States; takes the view that the ‘ net contributor’ /’ net beneficiary’ approach has no economic rationale, since it disregards spill-over effects between EU countries and therefore undermines common EU policy goals;
Amendment 17 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Recalls that delivering on the Europe 2020 strategy’ s seven flagshipnew emerging European initiatives will require a huge amount of future- oriented investment in the short, medium and longer term; stresses that the main objective of the new Europe 2020an strategy – namely, to promote jobs and high-quality employment for all Europeans – will be achieved only if the necessary investments in education, promotion of a knowledge society, research and development, innovation, SMEs and green technologies are made now and not delayed any longer; calls for a renewed political compromise combining the reduction of public deficits and debt with the promotion of such investments; expresses its willingness to improve and widen existing instruments enhancing the synergy between the EU budget and EIB actions, in order to support long- term investments;
Amendment 23 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Strongly opposes, therefore, any attempt to limit budget appropriations in those sectors linked to the delivery of the Europe 2020 strategy’ s headline targets and seven flagship initiativetargets where the EU wants to put emphasis; notes that such an attempt would be counter-productive, most likely resulting in thea failure ofor Europe 2020, as was the case for the Lisbon Strategy; takes the view that the Europe 2020 strategyan project project can be credible only if adequately funded, and recalls that the EP has on numerous occasions raised this serious political concern;
Amendment 27 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7 a (new)
Paragraph 7 a (new)
7a. Takes the view that the budget 2012 should be able to react on unexpected incidents, such as the current incidents in the South Mediterranean and in the Arab world; a broader strategic approach of development aid is needed as well as the regulation of migratory flows;
Amendment 30 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Takes the view, moreover, that 2012 budget appropriations, including in those areas not directly linked to the achievement of the Europe 2020 strategy, need to be kept at an appropriate level to ensure the continuation of EU policies and the achievement of EU objectives well beyond the duration of the current economic crisis;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 a (new)
Paragraph 8 a (new)
8a. Commits to peace-building; points out that a budgetary shift from military action to conflict prevention is a useful alternative to reduce military expenses in time of austerity;
Amendment 37 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8 b (new)
Paragraph 8 b (new)
8b. Underlines the necessity to enhance sustainability and the urgency of promoting an ecological conversion to create new jobs;
Amendment 45 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Underlines that these figures constitute a yearly breakdown of multiannual global amounts agreed upon by both Parliament and the Council when these programmes and actions were adopted; stresses that the annual amounts programmed represent appropriations to be budgeted as a matter of political consistency and with a view to achieving EU objectives and priorities, notably in the context of Europe 2020; acknowledges, however, that some room for manoeuvre may appear under certain headings of the MFF, given the very provisional indicative figures (in particular under Heading 2) put forward by the Commission at that point in the year;
Amendment 46 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Points out that, in times of economic difficulties, mediocre growth rate and divergences between the EU countries, the ceilings laid down by the MFF have to be reached in order to maximize the effects of the European public investment;
Amendment 61 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Stresses, in this connection, that keeping commitment appropriations under strict control would require not only significant redeployments and reprioritisation, but also the joint identification of possible negative priorities by the institutions; highlights, however, the fact that, to this end, greater budgetary flexibility (mainly between the headings of the current MFF) would be needed in order to align budgetary resources with evolving circumstances and priorities; underlines that full transparency must be guaranteed;
Amendment 77 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 24
Paragraph 24
24. Is aware that the level of payments finally implemented every year sometimes entails a significant so-called ‘surplus’ compared to the level of payments originally agreed by the budget authority, meaning that Member States’ national contributions to the EU budget are therefore decreased accordingly and their fiscal positions improved; does not consider the Council’s concerns as to the level and timing of this ‘return’ relevant in addressing the sensitive underlying political issue of the financing of the EU budget; strongly urges the Commission, therefore, to make proposals for the establishment of new and genuine own resources so as to provide the EU with real and autonomous financial resources; asks the Council to cooperate constructively to implement fair new own resources for the EU;